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I was wondering everytime i fly my kites. Will shifting the tail weight closer to the center T have any obvioust effect on the kite from tricking perspective?? flatspins and roll ups... will it be better to have it alittle closer to the center T rather than at the end of the tail for flatspins such as backspin, 540, susans and even taz?? will it make taz any better?? which would you prefer?

Yes it will for better or worse!Weighting depends a lot on the nose width, shape, billow/+- of your sail also the amount of weight, flying style etc.. Most stunt kites are either weighted at the tail, nose, or wingtips. I had a Eolo Over that loved the weight closer to the center t, other kites like weight at the nose and tail some none at all. Experiment! until you get that sweet spot. There's a ton of experienced kite makers and flyers here that I hope will give you some advise. The moderator Ian is one of the best, also KAOS Kevin Sanders, and Will S.

The HQ Infinity ( and also I think the Eolo Over) has a sliding tail weight that allows you to experiment with different setting. Basically 2 leading edge fittings back to back with a weight in between.

Thanks guys for the quick reply! I guess i just have to play around till i get to where i want it to be. Thanks darryl!! been so long since we on the same field flying.. more often than not i would be there watching you fly rather than i fly myself..

It varies kite to kite.Basically add weight near the T if you just want to increase mass and add weight at the tail if you want to move the center of gravity. The exact effects of that change vary hugely depending upon a multitude of design elements.

When I was in my play with the weight mode, I went to the hardware store and purchased some cylindrical metal objects and glued some velcro to them so that i could attach them to spine of my kite and move them up and down the spine. It worked pretty good and I learned alot by checking out different amounts of weight and moving the weight up and down the spine. I found out weights as defined by the builder was normally the best. As skills have grown I am no longer a weight tinkerer. But I think everyone has to go there.

No criticism Darryl (and certainly no offense intended), but the exact opposite will happen on some kites. I have also experienced the effect you have noticed, but it is more likely to be the amount of weight that is doing that, rather than the position of the weight.

I have a couple of kites that really "lock in" to precision flying when I add a small amount of weight to the tail, but put too much on and the kite will do just what you describe.

It isn't a completely black art, but there are definitely a few shades of grey in there

I used to play around with weights alot on various kites like John described.

I had little good results - about the only thing that worked well was adding a bit more (5-10g) where the designer had already put it.

If you like fiddling with weights - get a QPro with the weight kit. That one has enough built-in adjustments to keep you busy for a very long time! In the end, I just put the armature all the way down with the 20g weight sawed in half on it and that was as about perfect. I've also seen guys have the weight ABOVE the centerT on that one.

had a go at various positions placing for the weight.. in the end i ended up with the weight 5cm from the tail... tried adding more weight but cascade seems quite uncontrolled the more weight i put on the kite although when in fade position, i feel like Martin Madsen(DPmama74)...

I used to fly with a sliding spine weight a lot (on a Jack in the Box). While setting up a sliding system can be a pain if the kite wasn't designed for it, I found that it offers a bit of the best of both worlds. As the kite pitched into a lazy susan the weight would slide toward the nose a bit and help hold it there. It might be worth fooling around with if you're experimenting.

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